Stress

The term stress has its roots in physics, where it was first used to describe a physical force or tension exerted on an object. After the Second World War, the term has crossed over to psychology, where it has been constantly redefined across time (Seaward, 2006). Stress is ever-present in any modern human being’s life and each of us is subjected on a daily basis to a multitude of potentially stressful situations, according to Davis (2008).

In Davis’s (2008) opinion, stress is a result of any change that one has to adopt, changes that can greatly vary in nature, from physical danger to experiences of falling in love or even achieving long desired situations ( a promotion, buying a house etc). However, stress is not always a bad sign in someone’s life: it proves that you, as a physical and psychological entity, have a certain reaction to the situation that you are traversing. It has an adaptive role and it might become problematic only when someone over-reacts to certain stressful situation and gives a disproportionate response (it is normal to be stressed on your first day of work at a new job, but it might be abnormal to feel like that even after one month). In these cases, the stress becomes pathological and no longer holds an adaptive role, but rather quite the contrary.

Stress models:

Many studies have been conducted on the topic of stress since the Second World War and some models of stress still represent a matter of interest for the stress research field (Cooper  & Dewe, 2004):

• General adaptation syndrome: According to Selye (1946), in the case of a stressful situation the body of a person has the following reactions: alarm (the threat is identified and the body starts to prepare to fight or run); resistance (finding the resources to cope with the persistent stress factor); exhaustion (although the body uses all the resources to cope with the stressful stimulus, it isn’t able to overcome it and normal functioning becomes an impossibility, giving way to the apparition of problems such as heavy sweating, increased blood pressure and, on a long term, deficient immune system functioning and certain illnesses (ulcer, diabetes, heart problems etc).
• The biological model: Selye (1946), who was one of the pioneers of modern research on stress, explains that when a stressful stimulus appears, a reaction is triggered in one’s body. More specifically, the cerebral cortex sends signals to the hypothalamus which next stimulates the sympathetic system to produce more changes in the body: increased heart rate, metabolism, breathing rate, muscle tension and blood pressure. This way, the body prepares for the fight or the run when confronted with the stressful stimulus. In situations of chronic stress, these changes happen even in the absence of a very stressful stimulus.
• The social model: Lazarus (1980) considers that stress is interpreted differently by people since every person finds a certain situation stressful or not based on his/her experience with that situation, on his life history, personality etc. Therefore, people will have two consecutive reactions to a stressful stimulus: they will critically asses the intensity of the stimulus (how dangerous a situation is) and one’s resources to deal with it.

Stress types:

According to Miller & Rothstein (1994), stress can be categorized in three types:

• Acute stress: short term stress appearing as a response to the pressure of recent or future demands from someone’s life (an exam one has to take the next morning, a bad news one receives from the manager etc). Because of the adrenaline release, acute stress is exciting in nature and does not affect somebody’s functioning in the long run since it only lasts for a few hours.
• Episodic acute stress: represents bouts of stress occurring frequently to somebody. It manifests in the form of an extended over-arousal and people who have it are short-tempered, irritable, anxious, tense and negative about the world in general (seeing it as an awful place). It can lead to health problems, such as hypertension, heart disease, headaches etc. Professional help is usually needed in order to get rid of the episodic acute stress symptoms.
• Chronic stress: a prolonged form of stress that makes the person feel hopeless and makes him/her give up the idea of a better life, preventing one from ever saving himself/herself from that situation (an unpleasant job, an unhappy marriage etc). In the long run, this kind of stress destroys one’s health, both physical and psychological.

Therapy:

There is a variety of therapeutic approaches for all the types of stress. Although stress can be managed on one’s own with self-help methods and relaxation techniques (music, meditation, breathing, sport, dance etc), there are situations when a therapist has to be involved. Most commonly used types of psychotherapy for stress management are:

• Cognitive behavioural therapy: according to this approach, the stimulus is not the only one creating stress in people’s lives, but also the way they think about the stressing situation. Therefore, this is a therapy that helps them recognize a distorted pattern of response to a stressful stimulus and to alter it.
• Multimodal therapy: it has been developed by Lazarus and uses several techniques borrowed from many psychological systems and theories. The techniques most often regard areas such as behaviours, emotions, images, sensations, thoughts, interpersonal relationing and drug/biology.
• Problem focused therapy: is a cognitive behavioural type of therapy that helps the client to recognize the stress source and to understand his/her response to the respective source. In order to overcome the stress, several steps are learned by the patient during the therapy sessions.
• Rational emotive behavioural therapy: it is used to make the client aware of the fact that the way he/she feels depends not only on the threatening stimulus, but also on the way he/she feels and thinks, influenced by his/her belief systems. Changing beliefs helps in reducing stress levels.
• Hypnosis: used in addition to other forms of cognitive therapy.
• Talk therapy and art therapy are also alternatives that help a person find relief from stress and improve communication about the way one feels.

In all of these cases an accredited psychotherapist is needed. Stress is a serious problem and in the long run it can profoundly impact the life of one person and that of his/her beloved. Why have a negative life experience instead of getting the right help to return to a positive one?

References:

Cooper, D. L.  & Dewe, P. (2004). Stress: a brief history. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.
Davis, M., Robins Eshelman, E., &  M’Kay, M. (2008). The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook. US: New Harbinger Publications.
Lazarus, R. S. (1980). The stress and coping paradigm. In C. Eisdorfer, D. Cohen & A. Kleinman (Eds.), Conceptual Models for Psychopathology (pp. 173-203). New York: Spectrum.
Miller, L. H. & Rothstein, L. (1994). The stress solution:  An Action Plan to Manage the Stress in Your Life. US: Pocket Books.
Seaward, B. L. (2006). Managing stress: principles and strategies for health and wellbeing. London: Jones and Barttlest Publishers International.
Selye, H. (1946). The general adaptation syndrome and the diseases of adaptation. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology 6, 117-230.